Packaging harness



Aug; 22, 17

S. F. FLYNN PACKAGING HARNES S Filed April 27, 1966 IN VENTOR J. /&f, V- M ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,337,038 PACKAGING HARNESS The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a packaging harness and more particularly to a flexible harness or tray for supporting and securing articles that are fragile or easily bruised.

Briefly, the invention consists of a cushioning support which engages and moves with the supported article to eliminate any friction or rubbing action. The packaged article rests on a center piece which is cushioned by supporting arms connected to posts. Lateral support of the article is provided by flexible fingers which engage and secure the article to its resting point.

The harness or tray can he used singly or two can be used in cooperation to fully enclose and protect the articles.

The harness or tray material.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a packaging harness to support and protect fragile or easily bruised articles.

Another object is to provide a cushioning and supporting harness for fragile articles that eliminates friction and rubbing of the articles.

A further object is to provide a harness for fragile articles that provides both vertical and lateral support therefor.

A still further object is to provide a packaging harness having a cushioned center piece for engaging the terminal ends of the article and flexible fingers which engage the sides of the article.

A final object of the invent is to provide a packaging harness which may be used singly to protect the bottom and sides of an article or used doubly to fully enclose and protect the entire article.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will 'be fully apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the annexed drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the harness of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail section view on a larger scale taken along line 22 of FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 3 is a section view of a modified form of post.

Referring to the drawing in detail, reference character 1 designates generally, a portion of a packaging harness, which may constitute a flexible tray or a liner for a container, and may be used doubly as seen in FIG. 2 to enclose both ends and the sides of an article. The harness 1 could be cut to fit any size containers, not shown, or may be molded in such shape as to form the container per se, either the bottom or the top and bottom, which will nest when stacked for storage or shipment.

The harness 1, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a continuous member having a series of interconnected units which are designated generally by 2.

Each unit consists of a disc shaped center piece 3.

Each center piece 3 is connected to posts 4 by four, downwardly curving, diagonally disposed arms 5. All posts 4 are hollow.

Radiating from center ing fingers 6.

can be molded from a plastic packaging piece 3 or four, upwardly curv- 3,337,038 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 Arms 5 and fingers 6 are arranged so that their longitudinal axes intersect center piece 3 and are symmetrically spaced around the circumference of center piece 3.

Posts 4 are provided with flat, integral bases 7 and, as shown, are square in contour.

Each post 4 is provided with concave sides 8, and as shown, the curvature of the concave sides 8, form arcs that are concentric with the circular contour of each center piece 3.

An article 9 is shown, in FIGS. 1 and 2, in supported position in the harness 1.

In use, article 9 is placed on center piece 3 and depresses the center piece as shown, according to its weight.

Fingers 6, which are resilient, engage the sides of the article 9 and support the article during lateral movement.

If it is desired to support both ends of the article 9, a second harness may be placed over the article, or articles to be supported and may constitute the lid of a tray. This is shown in broken lines in FIG. 2.

If the harness is used singly, the posts 4 may be of any height, but when used doubly, posts 4- cannot be longer than the medial point of article 9.

If desired, fingers 6 could be eliminated and the posts 4 would be enlarged to abut the sides of article 9. This is not shown in the drawing as it would be obvious that since posts 4 are hollow, the sides 8 would be resilient also.

Centers 3 may be perforated as desired to provide less 7 weight to the harness.

The units 2 of the harness 1 is capable of being molded 'n different shapes other than shown, such as hexagonal, circular, square or any other regular or irregular arrangement that permits the containment of the most articles in the shaped container to be used, or the type tray to be made therefrom.

FIGURE 3 illustrates a modified form of a post and connecting arm 5.

In this modification, the post 4a is bell-shaped at its bottom as at 10 and the arms 5a are thickened as at 11. The thickened portion could either be solid as shown or hollowed and open on its bottom flat side.

While only a preferred form of the invention is shown and described, other forms of the invention are contemplated and numerous changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A packaging harness for supporting comprising a series of units including a cente cally spaced around said center piece, a series of symmetrically spaced arms radiating from said center piece and connected, one each to a post, and a series of upwardly curving, resilient fingers integral with the outer edge of said center piece.

2. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said center piece comprises a disc.

3. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axes of said arms and said fingers intersect the center of said center piece.

4. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein each post comprises a flat base integral with said arms, said arms extending, one each, from said base, and a hollow truncated pyramid rising from, and integral with, said base, said pyramid having three or more concave sides, the curvature of which constitutes an arc concentric with the circumference of said center piece.

5. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said arms radiating from said center piece curve downwardly therefrom whereby said center piece is offset upwardly from the base of a said post.

fragile articles interconnecting units, each of said 6. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein :ach post comprises a hollow, truncated cone having a bell-shaped outer portion, said arms radiating from said center piece being fixed to said bell-shaped portion at their outer ends.

7. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein said harness is fabricated entirely from a moldable material. i

8. A packaging harness as set forth in claim 1 wherein the entire harness is flexible.

No references cited.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Examiner. 

1. A PACKAGING HARNESS FOR SUPPORTING FRAGILE ARTICLES COMPRISING A SERIES OF INTERCONNECTING UNITS, EACH OF SAID UNITS INCLUDING A CENTER PIECE, A SERIES OF POSTS SYMMETRICALLY SPACED AROUND SAID CENTER PIECE, A SERIES OF SYMMETRICALLY SPACED ARMS RADIATING FROM SAID CENTER PIECE AND CONNECTED, ONE EACH TO A POST, AND A SERIES OF UPWARDLY CURVING, RESILIENT FINGERS INTEGRAL WITH THE OUTER EDGE OF SAID CENTER PIECE. 